Schaumburg restaurant's smoking shelter wins permit it inspired

A Schaumburg restaurant that last year inspired village officials to draw up guidelines for winter smoking shelters in the wake of an indoor smoking ban has at last won its permit to build one.

Trustees Tuesday approved plans for an outdoor smoking shelter at Moretti's Ristorante & Pizzeria at 1893 Walden Office Square.

Schaumburg is among a handful of Northwest suburbs which got a year's head-start on the indoor public smoking ban which became statewide last week.

As such, its restaurant owners were among the first to struggle with accommodating their smoking clientele in cold weather.

During the early months of 2007, Schaumburg-based Ala Carte Entertainment experimented with smoking shelters at three of its Schaumburg restaurants.

These were Finn McCool's at 1941 E. Algonquin Road, Alumni Club at 871 E. Algonquin Road and Moretti's.

The original smoking ban permitted smoking in semi-enclosed shelters 15 feet from a building's entrance, but gave no further details.

While the shelter at Finn McCool's came close to the guidelines later written up, those at Alumni Club and Moretti's were deemed too cozy for what a smoking shelter was meant to be.

To begin with, they were fully enclosed. Moretti's was actually part of the building, closed off from the rest of the restaurant with a separate entrance more than 15 feet from the main one.

Some trustees expressed appreciation for the shelters' innovation, but insisted they didn't meet the spirit of the original smoking ban.

The guidelines finalized in August stated that a smoking shelter had to be enclosed on only three sides. Food, drinks and entertainment such as TV sets were not allowed.

Finn McCool's, which already largely complied with these guidelines, was the first restaurant in Schaumburg whose shelter was approved.

Two industrial businesses have also received permits for smoking shelters -- THK at 200 Commerce Drive and HSBC at 1301 Tower Road.

Moretti's required review by Schaumburg's Project Review Group due to work needed on the building itself. But the addition of a smoking shelter wasn't sufficient to require a hearing before the zoning board of appeals.

"If the changes were much greater in scope, they would have to go the (zoning board of appeals)," Community Development Director Christopher Huff said.